(LRO slewed 19° down-Sun allowing the illuminated side of the still standing American flag to be captured at the Apollo 17 site.)

An enduring question ever since the manned moon landings of the 1960s has been: Are the flags planted by the astronauts still standing?

Now, lunar scientists say the verdict is in from the latest photos of the moon taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC): Most do, in fact, still stand.

"From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11," LROC principal investigator Mark Robinson wrote in a blog post today (July 27). "Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11, and it looks like he was correct!"

Each of the six manned Apollo missions that landed on the moon planted an American flag in the lunar dirt.

Scientists have examined images of the Apollo landing sites before for signs of the flags, and seen hints of what might be shadows cast by the flags. However, this wasn't considered strong evidence that the flags were still standing. Now, researchers have examined photos taken of the same spots at various points in the day ...

If the worst happens and Obama stays in our White House for four more years (God forbid!), it’s nice to know that our flag will still fly somewhere. I’d take a planet with no atmosphere over one ruled by a communist thug. I wonder how close we are to being able to settle the moon as a private expedition.

7
posted on 07/30/2012 7:19:39 PM PDT
by Pollster1
(Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. - Ronald Reagan)

"See? The flag is still on Mars, as I, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, former member of the House Committee on Outer Space, had confirmed when I visited the Norwegian Assemblage of Space Astronauts, better known to you in the public as NASA."

8
posted on 07/30/2012 7:23:32 PM PDT
by LostInBayport
(When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)

“Even on Earth, the colors of a cloth flag flown in bright sunlight for many years will eventually fade and need to be replaced. So it is likely that these symbols of American achievement have been rendered blank, bleached white by the UV radiation of unfiltered sunlight on the lunar surface. Some of them may even have begun to physically disintegrate under the intense flux.”

Bleached white. Sure as hell wouldn’t be able to see colors after all this time.

On a visit to the JPL she asked if the Mars Rover would be able to show "the flag the astronauts planted there before".

Of course the right answer could be provided by her fellow D-Moron compatriot Congress idiot Hank Johnson, who would respond that the rover couldn't get too close to the flag because the combined weight would capsize Mars.

Even on Earth, the colors of a cloth flag flown in bright sunlight for many years will eventually fade and need to be replaced. So it is likely that these symbols of American achievement have been rendered blank, bleached white by the UV radiation of unfiltered sunlight on the lunar surface.

Oh great! Now the aliens are gonna think the French got to the moon first.

Not sure what episode number, but Mythbusters did a good job of completely debunking every major contention of the conspiracy nuts.

An excellent episode, particularly their investigation of "moonwalking" ... but it must be said they came up a little short on the footprint. They were not able to reproduce it, I thought, under their experimental conditions, but bluffed their way through. A mere blemish, but in these matters, blemishes count.

I remember a few years ago, on the fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of Hasbros GI Joe action figure I was posting a comment on FrontPage Magazine how I had one of those as a kid. I remember saying ‘’But with those darn pre-configured hands of his I could never get him to hold on to the rifle''. Someone posted back saying, "Must have been one made in France''.

The most common questions to the LROC team before launch concerned what will we see at the Apollo sites? Will we see the Lunar Module descent stage and rovers? What about rover tracks, or the American flags? As we now know, the NAC images clearly show all of the above items (see links to earlier posts at the bottom). Personally I was a bit surprised that the flags survived the harsh ultraviolet light and temperatures of the lunar surface, but they did.

Charlie Duke captures John Young saluting the flag while jumping, (twice). A great demonstration of the lower gravity on the Moon. Apollo 16 Lunar Module (LM) Orion and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) are in the background. View the re-master original indexed at the Apollo 16 Lunar Surface Journal, HERE - MET: 120:25:42 - (AS17-113-18339) "He is off the ground about 1.45 seconds which, in the lunar gravity field, means that he launched himself at a velocity of about 1.17 m/s and reached a maximum height of 0.42 m. Although the suit and backpack weigh as much as he does, his total weight is only about 65 pounds (30 kg) and, to get this height, he only had to bend his knees slightly and then push up with his legs." Video Clip ( 3 min 21 sec 0.9 Mb RealVideo or 30 Mb MPEG ) [NASA].

The opening image was taken early in the mission, and is one of the best views of the American flag because the spacecraft was pointed towards the illuminated side of the flag, and Sun was low enough (56° incidence angle) such that distinct shadows were cast.

The flag was captured in this image of the Apollo 16 site with the spacecraft slewed 15° towards the Sun; the shadowed side of the flag is seen by LROC. NAC frame M175179080L, orbit 10950, November 6, 2011; native resolution 40.4 cm per pixel, angle of incidence 41.91° from 23.56 kilometers [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11, and it looks like he was correct! The most convincing way to see that the flags are still there, is to view a time series of LROC images taken at different times of day, and watch the shadow circle the flag (see movie below; the flag is just above the LM descent stage).

Visit the full resolution NAC of the Apollo 16 site HERE. A full resolution version of the Apollo 12 time series is available HERE.

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